38 Times
by SunShineFades
Summary: The 38 Times that Henley and Danny thought of each other throughout their relationship.


_**38 Times**_

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_01 Comfort_

She reaches for his hand when they witnessed the Eye for the same reason she had held his hand when they had jumped (Even if it had been onto a net and not off building like the illusion made it seem), she wanted the comfort. To know that he- annoying, egocentric, control freak, adorable J. Daniel Atlas was right next to her when she fell.

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_02 Kiss_

The first time he kissed her, he had been so nervous that instead of pulling her close. He had put his hands in his pockets to hide the sweat. He may be arrogant about well _everything_, but he wasn't sure that he was doing this right. She was different from the others and he wanted this to be more than just a game. When she pulled him closer and threaded her fingers around his neck, he finally let himself relax and enjoy kissing her.

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_03 Soft_

He had always found that cards were soft when he first bought them, not brittle and stiff like they become after his constant shuffling and throwing them for tricks. But he found that Henley's hair when he curled it around his fingers was softer, it was almost like fluff but long and fine. That was when he realized that he needed to stop thinking so much about his assistant.

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_04 Pain_

She felt pain as she walked out the door and Danny stood there like an idiot. He didn't call after her and he didn't do one of his tricks to lock the door before she could leave. Instead he let her go without a fight and that hurt more than any of the arguments they had before this.

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_05 Water_

Henley had always loved water and it was a good thing as she used it in her trick every night. She loved the way she felt enclosed in it. Like nothing could touch. Almost like the bubbles, but different. When she was in the water, she didn't feel like panicking even as she became a great actress and did. Water was a safe haven as it reminded her of her childhood home in Florida and did not remind her of Danny. He had never used the tank in his tricks, probably afraid since there was no controlling water with absolute precision.

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_06 Rain_

The rain had been beating on the airplane windows as he had watched her flirting with Merritt. He tried to concentrate on the way that the water slid down the glass and what questions he was going to ask of Tressler to get the truth. However her laugh kept scattering his thoughts. She was annoying like that.

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_07 Handcuffs_

He let the handcuffs slide off his wrists and onto the Agent. As they continued to stay on, he passed the coke to the blonde women and smiled. This was too easy. There was only one thought nagging, what had Henley done to her interrogator? Was it better than his ploy? He had always thought her imaginative. It was one of the reasons he was glad to work with her again. _One_ of the reasons.

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_08 Happiness_

It brought her happiness to see the money go to people that truly deserved it. She may have scammed people in the past, was right now in the present, and would in the future, but it was good to help people. To make them happier with their lives. As she saw the smile on Danny's face, she knew he agreed. They may be thieves but they were not heartless.

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_09 Telephone_

He busted the telephone under his feet and felt concern run through him as he saw the flashes on the computer. They needed to move fast and stick to the plan. He told himself that, but he made sure that Henley was in the corner of his eyes as they run to their cars. He wanted to keep her safe, even if that wasn't exactly a part of the mandate.

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_10 Eyes_

His eyes made her feel weak again. Like any second she could go back to being his assistant. Wearing too small outfits and watching as he pulled other girls into his bed. That's why she wouldn't look at _Daniel_, and why the Mentalist probably sensed the tension. Why had he been invited too?

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_11 Names_

He let people call him different names. The world called him J. Daniel Atlas, one of the Four Housemen, but she got to call him Danny. A name that no one and he meant no one else got away with. But the way she said it made him feel… well he liked it when she said it.

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_12 Sensual_

Henley knew that she was sensual when she wore the sparkly outfits that distracted the crowd, but she didn't feel it as much as she did when he placed his hands on her, as when he kissed her and pulled her close, making the dress ride up as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

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_13 Death_

Jack Wilder had got the death card and they had all seen it as an omen. They were magicians so they did believe that there were some things that were unexplainable so omens could be true in a sense. When the plan had been to fake his death they had gone along with it, but Henley couldn't deny that she felt a small doubt even as Danny told him to stick to the plan. What if for once Danny was wrong and Jack got hurt? Danny looked at her then and they communicated nonverbally that they both were frighten of losing a member of their team, of their new _family_.

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_14 Magic_

Magic was always an illusion to him (As he always said the closer you are the easier it was to fool you), but the Eye, now that was more than magic, that was magic with a capital M, and he wanted in it so bad. That when he got the card, he caught a flight without thought to New York—and was surprised when he saw red hair, and a manicured hand holding coffee (Probably mocha latte, she always craved those when she was excited) and felt like he had been deceived about being the only one, but he truly wasn't that angry, it was Henley.

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_15 Touch_

The way she touched that card was making him antsy. She was moving her fingers all wrong and he could totally see how she had done it. But when she asked, he lied and hoped she wouldn't hit him. Instead she smiled that _smile_ and handed the cards back. Daniel slipped them into his pocket and looked back out the plane window. There was the first twenty minutes of their flight passed, now forty minutes to go…

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_16 Weakness_

He had always had a weakness for her. For the way she preformed acts like they were fun. The way she seemed self-conscious about her weight even though she was gorgeous. And the way she let him catch her as she fell out of the bubble (Even when she was still mad about the past). Yep she had always been his weakness and temptation. Too bad he had never let her see it.

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_17 Tears_

She knew that tears were in her eyes (She wouldn't let them fall, because she never cried) as she watched her cards fall onto the ground and get trampled by the laughing crowd. She knew she was bad at card tricks, but was she really that bad at sleight of hand? When he, a J. Daniel Atlas had offered her a job, she had accepted hoping he would teach her more about cards. Instead she learned the kind of tricks she loved and some other things that weren't exactly for the show.

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_18 Speed_

He loved the feeling of speeding in a car but another game of speed he liked to play was the banter he did with her. They would race to see who would get the last word out and who would crash under the weight of losing.

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_19 Wind_

The wind tossed her hair around in a wave and he couldn't resist pushing it back. Or kissing her wind-chapped lips. Or taking her into the place they were hiding at under the direction of the Eye, so as to continue what he had started. Kissing her was so much more fun than being freaking cold, but at least she got to see the sun outside for the first time in two months.

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_20 Free_

She was really nervous that this could be the end. That they would not be able to pull this off, and she would be put in a dark damp prison cell without being about to see Merritt, Jack, or _him_. That's why she allowed herself to smile at him and kiss him when Merritt nicely turned his back. He was the first person to free himself when the elevator cage opened, but he kissed her one last time before letting her walk ahead of him.

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_21 Life_

Her life was different than she thought it would be when she had been a child. When she had been in high school she had hoped to play tennis at some fancy school like her parents, but than she had seen an ex-boyfriend do a bending spoon illusion and had been hooked. Magic had became her drug and one way to get a hit was to play nice with Danny. Even as he played with the light switch as if he hadn't created this whole scheme to see her again. The idiot could have telephoned…_she_ hadn't changed her number.

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_22 Jealous_

He was deadly jealous of the way Merritt flirted with Henley in the hallway, on the plane, and at the house they had been hiding in (Before the New Orleans show). Sometimes it really made him want to throw cards at him and stomp his foot like a child. He wanted to be able to flirt with her, she had been his assistant and crush for years before Merritt had come along and that should have gave him some priority. But as she laughed, his stomach fell to his feet and he turned away. She no longer wanted Danny, J. (James) Daniel Atlas.

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_22 Hands_

His hands had been one of the first things to attract her. That may sound weird but it was true. He did different things with his hands like moving the cards in a complicated motion, pushing the saw into a box she laid in, and punching a guy who didn't like him stealing his girl for the night. Yet it was always with precise movements as if he thought of everything multiple ways before doing anything, and that was _hot_ in a geeky way.

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_23 Taste_

Her mouth tasted like cherries and whatever else she had drunk at this bar. But it was the taste he got of her; the way she moved her tongue, the sounds she made, and the designs her hands made as they trailed down his chest was better than the alcohol he had been drinking. It took only a second to slip the bartender a twenty and lead her home. The next day he couldn't remember _whom_ he had brought home. She had already left, but there was red hair on his pillow.

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_24 Devoted_

He was devoted to her, in the sense he wanted to keep her as his assistant. If he increased her paycheck and moved her apartment closer to his- that was his business. Henley Reeves was his business partner; not his friend, and definitely not his lover. Even if he wanted her to be.

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_25 Forever_

Neither of them thought of forever much. They only think of the future in terms of when was the next show. However when he asked her what she would do if she had forever, her answer was exactly like his…this.

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_26 Blood_

The blood filled the water and she knew she had two more seconds to fall into the trap door and elbow her way into the crowd. As she moved, she was fueled with adrenaline and joy. That stopped for one second when she accidently looked for Danny in the crowd. For one second she forgot he wouldn't be there.

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_27 Sick_

She was sick of watching him help that precious Rebecca slid through trap doors. He was always touching her on the back or pulling her down by her feet so Rebecca fell into his arms. Henley sighed as she walked for the exit; she had some luggage to pack. Hopefully she could get it done before he got to their shared apartment with blonde, dim, skinny Rebecca.

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_28 Melody_

The carousel played a melody as he walked up the steps. It was a simple tone but buzzed through his head. He wondered where he had heard it—ahh Henley had played it on her birthday that one-year as he had been _trying_ to bake a cake. She had danced to it without knowing he was watching. Well at least she hadn't until he had pushed her onto the couch before settling on top. He doesn't believe they ever ate the cake.

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_29 Home_

She didn't have a home. She was just a nineteen year old that thought she could make it big in Chicago. When he had lead her to his temporary apartment and allowed her to stay (Until she got enough money to buy the one down the hall). She had wondered if the rooms would become her home- it had been a slightly naïve hope even then.

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_30 Confusion_

He was so confused that she allowed herself to stay even as she proclaimed to hate him. Didn't that mean she would want to be halfway across the world, not seating across from him with two cups of mocha latte as they looked over blueprints?

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_31 Afraid_

She was afraid when she heard the gunshot behind them. What if it had hit Danny? What if he was wounded? Was just running because he was bloody assed stubborn? When she had seen him with no blood on him, she had felt relief before punching him hard for being so careless as to let the man pull a gun.

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_32 Bond_

He had always felt a bond with her. It had felt shattered when she left. When they had meet again, they had both been different. Life did that—changes you, but he still felt the bond.

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_33 Technology_

Technology was used all the time. Henley used bugs, which she let Danny borrow. And Danny used his insane trackers. Technology also helped them research people to steal from. The only thing technology couldn't do was tell her why Danny seemed to speak another language—one made up of ego, selfishness, and a soft kind of caring that he tried to hide.

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_34 Smile_

She had a certain smile she used when she wore red lipstick and when she wore pink. Red was the one for shows; the smile that said she was confident, independent, and beautiful. The pink was for when they were together; the smile that said she was confident, independent, and beautiful but also just Henley, herself—not an illusion.

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_35 Complete_

Their task was complete. They had done it—seen the Eye and now her and Danny were going to have a nice, long, complicated talk about how they were going to be business partners and in a relationship as equals.

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_36 Heaven_

It was heaven when they agreed to date again. At least it was until Merritt and Jack started to tease them. They were like children at the candy store with their faces against the glass and Daniel took great pleasure in snapping the door closed. He loved them like brothers, but if they didn't stop catcalling, he would have to beat them up in poker.

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_37 Hell_

It was Hell the first two months; he keeps expecting her to come back or at least call but after two months it became purgatory. Where he hoped if he went through enough pain, or gained enough fame- maybe she would come back again. Maybe when he deserved it, which could be never. After all he wasn't the boy next door, he was a magician and that created a lot of pitfalls.

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_38 Supernova_

The Eye moved in a whirlwind of light that was like a supernova and he reached for her hand. He reached for her hand for the same reason he had held her hand, when they had jumped (Even if it had been onto a fiber tight net and not off a building that was sixty feet tall). He wanted the comfort. To know that she- annoying, smart, beautiful, witty Henley Reeves was there when he ran into the light.

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